units

SWM5109

Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

18 September 2017 19 April 2024
Monash University

Postgraduate - Unit

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

LevelPostgraduate
FacultyFaculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational UnitDepartment of Social Work
OfferedCaulfield Second semester 2015 (Day)
Caulfield Second semester 2015 (Off-campus)
Coordinator(s)Associate Professor Philip Mendes

Synopsis

Students will be introduced to the specific role of social work in social policy analysis and community practice and advocacy. Areas covered will include the meaning and nature of social policy, the key trends and philosophies underlying the positions of the major political parties, the key theories and ideological perspectives in social policy, the link between social policy and the goals and actions of social work, the impact of social structure and social policy on welfare service consumers, the implementation of social policy interventions in everyday social work practice, ideological critiques of the welfare state, the role, strategies and effectiveness of lobby groups in social policy debates, the link between local and global welfare trends, the concepts of community and community work, and the role of community work skills and strategies in social work practice.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. Analyse the nature of contemporary social policy and social policy debates in Australia and internationally
  2. Cite examples, both in the classroom and online, of the way political parties deal with policy issues, and describe the key trends and philosophies underlying the positions of major political parties
  3. Describe and apply key theories and ideological perspectives in social policy, social change and community practice
  4. Identify the impact of social structure and social policy on welfare service users
  5. Implement social policy interventions in their everyday social work practice
  6. Articulate the concepts of community and community work
  7. Make informed choices about using community work practice methods based on contemporary community work research and practice wisdom
  8. Demonstrate competence in a range of community work skills and strategies applicable to social work practice with communities.

Assessment

A critical analysis of a current newspaper or popular journal opinion piece on a social policy topic by a prominent politician, journalist, or public commentator (1,000 words) (20%)
An analysis of public policy debates in an area of Australian social policy related to their placement field using the social policy literature (3,500 words) (80%)

Students must pass all assessment tasks to successfully complete the unit.

Workload requirements

The unit runs for 8 weeks for on-campus students and 12 weeks for off-campus students.
On-campus students are expected to undertake 156 hours per semester study. Students are expected to use their study time to attend on-campus lectures and workshops, undertake weekly readings as set out in the Unit Outline, and to complete three assignment tasks. This unit will be taught in a total of 36 hours contact time over 8 weeks following the completion of the second fieldwork placement (SWM5108) for full-time students.

See also Unit timetable information

Chief examiner(s)

Associate Professor Philip Mendes

Off-campus attendance requirements

Off-campus students are expected to undertake 156 hours per semester in private study, completing readings and other tasks as outlined on the Blackboard site in the off-campus Unit Guide, and to complete three assignment tasks. Off-campus students are required to attend a compulsory on-campus workshop for successful completion of this unit, where social work practice skills will be taught.

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Social work

Prerequisites

SWM5100, SWM5101, SWM5102, SWM5103, SWM5104, SWM5105, SWM5106.

Additional information on this unit is available from the faculty at:

http://www.med.monash.edu.au/socialwork/